THE NEW YORK DOLLS Vinyl & CDs

Review: Who needs commercial success, anyway? At least not in the Big Apple during the early-1970s - long before Manhattan became a millionaire's enclave and most of Brooklyn out-priced normal people. The New York Dolls certainly didn't seem to mind that their rowdy and raucous take on rock 'n' roll, somewhere between The Who in full meltdown mode and Jimmy Hendrix and the seedlings of punk, didn't capture mainstream imaginations when they first started out.

Through countless lineup iterations things would slowly and slightly change, with the band's first two LPs considered two of the most sought after releases in cult guitar-dom (The New York Dolls and Too Much Too Soon). Actress predates all that, taking its name from the outfit the Dolls grew out of, but the blueprint for critical recognition is clear already - part psychedelic, party sweat and blood and tears, part lager and fighting, all befitting one of modern history's most hedonistic eras.